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Chronology of Islam in America (2009)
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
December 2009
‘Go home sand n**ger’ painted on Idaho Muslim’s truck
Dec 4: In Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, vandals spray-painted “go home sand n**ger” and Nazi swastikas on a truck owned by Haitham Joudeh, 33, who is a Muslim of Jordanian descent. The victim also found a racist flier from the Aryan Nations on his lawn. “This incident is apparently part of a pattern of hate crimes targeting people of all faiths and ethnicities in the area,” said CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper. Other local bias incidents included a noose left on a Spokane doorstep, a racist sticker stuck to the door of a Coeur d’Alene human rights center and attacks on and harassment of Hispanics, African-Americans and Native Americans. (The Spokeman-Review)
The Status of American Muslims’ Civil Rights
Dec 5: The seven-million strong American Muslim community continued to face barriers to their full and equal participation in American society while certain individuals and institutions persisted in profiting by smearing Islam, according to the 2009 CAIR report on the status of American Muslims. American Muslims continued to fear profiling, surveillance and undue scrutiny by law enforcement and other authorities, the report said adding: “The government’s ability to conduct surveillance without adequate oversight or control has expanded and shows no immediate sign of contracting.” The report was alluding to the Attorney General’s Guidelines issued in the waning days of Bush Administration and adopted by the Obama administration. The CAIR report dubbed as “The Status of Muslim Civil Rights in the United States” is a summation of incidents and experiences of anti-Muslim violence, discrimination and harassment reported to the civil advocacy group during the 2008 calendar year.
The CAIR and its affiliate chapters processed a total of 2,728 civil rights complaints. This number represents a 3 percent increase in reported cases from 2007 (2,652 reports) and an 11 percent increase over cases reported in 2006 (2,467 reports). The occurrence of reported civil rights complaints continues to increase at mosques and Muslim organizations, rising from 221 cases in 2006 to 564 cases in 2007 and to 721 cases in 2008. This represents a 28 percent increase from 2007 to 2008. There were 118 reported cases of discrimination in schools in 2007 and 153 in 2008. This represents a 31 percent increase. Interestingly, anti-Muslim hate crime complaints fell by 14 percent this year, decreasing from 135 total complaints in 2007 to 116 in 2008.
Consistent with previous years, an individual’s ethnicity/religion remained the primary factor that triggered discrimination. This factor accounted for 42 percent of the total cases reported to CAIR during the 2008 calendar year. It is important to note that many acts of discrimination occur due to the perceived ethnicity or religion of the victim. For example, many Sikh-Americans, who are not Muslim, have been targets of anti-Muslim bias as a result of their appearance. (AMP Report)
Muslim customer allegedly harassed by bank guard because of hijab
Dec 8: The Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Chicago) today called on Citibank to apologize to a Muslim woman who was allegedly verbally abused by a security guard at a Gresham, Ill., branch because she wears a religious head scarf, or hijab. According to the Muslim woman, the guard said it was against Citibank's policy for customers to transact business wearing head coverings. While another Citibank employee did allow the woman to complete her business, that employee insisted on personally escorting her to the counter and watched over her shoulder as she conducted her transactions. The guard also reportedly objected to the woman receiving service because it would encourage more of "them" to come into the bank. Throughout the process, which the Muslim customer described as "humiliating," the guard allegedly made anti-Muslim remarks. (CAIR)
San Diego Muslims upset over local church event
Dec 8: Several Muslim families invited to a service at Skyline Church in La Mesa (San Diego country of California) left the church in protest when the Christmas celebration event turned into an anti-Islam tirade. After more than an hour into the service, an Egyptian women convert to Christianity, was invited to speak. The woman ridiculed the tradition of Muslim women wearing coverings, and then took aim at various sections of the Koran. Minutes into the woman's speech, the 30 Muslims invited to the service started leaving. One Muslim asked if he could present a counterpoint, but was denied, leading to a shouting match with members of the ministry. (10News.com)
American-Islamic group alerted FBI to missing students
Dec 9: The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) played a key role in alerting U.S. authorities about five young Americans who were arrested today in Pakistan on suspicion of attempting to join militant groups after going missing from the United States. The five lived in Northern Virginia. One of the five men had left behind a video that appeared to be some kind of "farewell" statement which cited Quranic verses out of religiously orthodox contexts. CAIR got the family members in touch with the FBI and played the 11-minute English video for agents and Muslims leaders at a lawyer's office. The five – Ramy Zamzam, 22; Ahmad Minni, 20; Umar Chaudhry, 24; Waqar Khan, 22; and Aman Hassan Yemer, 18 – were arrested in Sargodha, Pakistan.
The incident provoked deep concern in the Muslim community about the existence of homegrown extremism among Muslim American youth. Shahed Amanallah, editor of altmuslim.com, says those Muslims who have found themselves immersed in radicalism have two primary traits in common: a strong aversion to U.S. policy in Muslim countries (which, it must be stressed, is in and of itself not extremist) combined with a profound "identity complex" with respect to what it means to be a Muslim American. The combination of the two creates susceptibility to extremist interpretations that both provide both an identity and a means (albeit violent) to push back.
The Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) has issued a paper on the issue which advocated intense grassroots engagement among police and U.S. Muslim neighborhood leaders to thwart the emergence of homegrown extremism. "Unfortunately, in the current political climate, the actions of certain law enforcement agencies -- whether spying on peaceful activist groups and houses of worship without reasonable suspicion, or religious profiling -- have added to difficulties," the report said. Such a "heightened sense of fear and grievances also creates a greater pool of alienated people terrorists can tap into for recruitment," the report added.
Dr. James Zogby, President of Arab American Institute believes that the problem of the so-called radicalization should be seen in context and not blown out of proportion. Since “we are in engaged in a number of international conflicts, which have repercussions here at home either because they involve countries which are the lands of origin of individuals living here in the U.S., or because there are those, on both sides of these conflicts, who have sought to exploit them as a “clash of civilizations.” As Dr. Zogby said this form of radicalization leading to antisocial behavior has long been a problem in our country. “We’ve seen it before. In recent decades we’ve witnessed recruitment into white supremacist and “Christian Nation” and militia organizations, the Black Panthers, the Jewish Defense League, the I.R.A, etc. The fact is that the allure of absolutist ideology and romanticized machismo, complete with weapons, training and acts of bravado does provide, for some of these men, a dangerous cure for the alienation and feeling of powerlessness they’ve experienced. And we are seeing it again, now with a different group of people.” The answers to this problem are, therefore: to keep it in context, to provide young people with alternatives to alienation, and to continue to develop close ties between affected communities and law enforcement to address problems as they occur, Dr. Zogby concluded. (AMP Report)
Immigration delays top complaint from Oklahoma Muslims
Dec 10: Government agencies accounted for more than half of civil rights complaints from Oklahoma Muslims last year, according to a report released today by a state advocacy group. Most of the complaints reported were regarding immigration delays, said Razi Hashmi, executive director of the Oklahoma chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Immigration problems have been reported by members of other minority communities, particularly Hispanics, Hashmi said. (The Oklahoman)
Minnesota congressional candidate says constitution does not apply to Muslims
Dec 10: The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN) today called on political and religious leaders in that state to repudiate recent incidents of anti-Muslim hate. In the first incident, a challenger to Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), the first Muslim elected to Congress, said Islam promotes criminal behavior and that Muslims do not deserve constitutional protections. On her campaign web site, Lynne Torgerson wrote in part: “[T]he religion of Islam cannot be protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. It is not ‘religion’ recognizable under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.” In a media interview, she said, "I don't want other cultures coming into the United States and chilling our freedoms."(CITY PAGES, Minneapolis)
The allegedly growing domestic Muslim threat
Dec 14: There is clearly a concerted effort by the Government to claim loudly that the threat posed by radicalized American Muslims is increasing. These claims are being made based exclusively on the basis of a handful of recent episodes involving American Muslims accused of having links to Al Qaeda and/or the Taliban. There is no data whatsoever offered to corroborate the claim of a "trend." Given the dangerous inherent in such claims -- as well as the motives the Government generally has in disseminating such claims and the motive it specifically has when escalating a war -- far more than a few anecdotes ought to be required before any of this is believed. What's most striking about these "warnings" is that they virtually never examine the reasons why this would be happening. Why, after all this time, would American Muslims suddenly be more willing to engage in violence against the U.S.? To his credit, Scott Shane devoted several paragraphs of his NYT article to addressing this question, and what he finds is both highly significant and highly unsurprising:
“The continuing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the American operations like drone strikes in Pakistan, are fueling radicalization at home,” [terrorism expert Robert Leiken] said. "Just the length of U.S. involvement in these countries is provoking more Muslim Americans to react," Mr. Leiken said . . . .Like many other specialists, [Georgetown University terrorism expert Bruce] Hoffman pointed to the United States' combat in Muslim lands as the only obvious spur to many of the recent cases, especially those with a Pakistani connection. "The longer we’ve been in Iraq and Afghanistan," he said, "the more some susceptible young men are coming to believe that it’s their duty to take up arms to defend their fellow Muslims."
A few analysts, in fact, argue that Mr. Obama’s decision to send more troops to Afghanistan -- intended to prevent a terrorist haven there -- could backfire. Robert A. Pape, a University of Chicago political scientist, contends that suicide attacks are almost always prompted by resentment of foreign troops, and that escalation in Afghanistan will fuel more plots. "This new deployment increases the risk of the next 9/11,” he said. “It will not make this country safer."
The evidence proving this causation is now so overwhelming as to be undeniable. Waging wars, occupying, and dropping bombs in Muslim countries is the single most counter-productive step that can be taken to combat Islamic extremism (indefinitely imprisoning them without charges is a close second). It's akin to advising a lung cancer patient to triple the quantity of cigarettes he smokes each day. Yet we continue to do it over and over, and then point to the harms we cause as reasons we need to continue doing it. Our "counter-terrorism" campaign basically consists of three steps repeated endlessly: (1) Interfere in or otherwise act aggressively in the Muslim world. (2) Provoke increased anti-American sentiment and fuel terrorism as a result of Step 1. (3) Point to the increased anti-American sentiment and terrorism as a reason we need to escalate our interference and aggression in the Muslim world. The coordinated campaign to hype the alleged "growing domestic Muslim threat" at exactly the time we are escalating our conventional war in Afghanistan and our covert Predator war in Pakistan is a perfect illustration of this process. Basically, what Shane's article reveals is the shocking truth that waging war in Muslim countries for more a full decade radicalizes Muslims and drives some of them to want to return the violence. Who would have guessed? (Glenn Greenwald - Salon.com)
Two-thirds of Protestant pastors consider Islam 'dangerous,' Survey
Dec 14: Two out of three Protestant pastors believe Islam is a "dangerous" religion, according to a new survey from a Southern Baptist-affiliated research group. The survey of more than 1,000 Protestant clergy by LifeWay Research, released today, found that 45 percent strongly agree with the statement "I believe Islam is a dangerous religion" and another 21 percent agree somewhat with it. Evangelical pastors were more likely to agree with the statement than mainline Protestant pastors -- 77 to 47 percent. "It's important to note our survey asked whether pastors viewed Islam as `dangerous,' but that does not necessarily mean 'violent,"' said Lifeway president Ed Stetzer in a statement about the survey results. "`Dangerous' can be defined in a variety of ways, including from the perspective of spiritual influence. Regardless of the definition, the numbers tell us that Protestant pastors are concerned." On Dec. 10, evangelist Franklin Graham told CNN that while he loves the Muslim people in countries he's visited with his Samaritan's Purse ministry, "I don't agree with the teachings of Islam and I find it to be a very violent religion." (Bliefnet)
'Sinister Muslim' stereotype fades
Dec 15: Negative stereotypes of Muslim characters date to at least the black-and-white era, but by the 1990s and the end of the Cold War, one-dimensional Muslim terrorist characters were the generic "bad guy" in countless movies and television shows, including True Lies ('94) and Executive Decision ('96). Even the cartoon Aladdin ('92) portrayed villains with Middle Eastern accents while the hero and heroine had standard American voices. Such repeated portrayals have colored public perceptions of Muslims and Middle Easterners. The events of 9/11 crystallized and, for some, affirmed the stereotype. But nearly a decade later, Hollywood seems to be changing its tune toward Muslims and Arabs. Recently, especially on television shows, Muslim characters are being treated differently. Perhaps pressure from Muslim Americans and Muslims who work in the movie industry has helped encourage Hollywood to make changes. Some Muslim and Arab actors are turning down roles that reinforce negative stereotypes. Muslim advocacy groups are also helping to transform Hollywood. Two such organizations — the Muslim Public Affairs Council and the Council on American-Islamic Relations — first approached Gordon about the portrayals of Muslims on 24 and persuaded him to make adjustments. Muslims On Screen and Television (MOST), a non-profit resource center, provides research and information about Muslims to Hollywood insiders. (USA Today)
Documents show DHS improperly spied on Nation of Islam in 2007
Dec 16: The Department of Homeland Security improperly gathered intelligence on the Nation of Islam for eight months in 2007 when the leader of the black Muslim group, Louis Farrakhan, was in poor health and appeared to be yielding power, according to government documents released today. The intelligence gathering violated domestic spying rules because analysts took longer than 180 days to determine whether the U.S-based group or its American members posed a terrorist threat. Analysts also disseminated their report too broadly, according to documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a civil liberties group. The disclosure was included in hundreds of heavily redacted pages released by the Justice Department as part of long-standing FOIA lawsuits about the government's policies on terrorist surveillance, detention and treatment since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. It marks the latest case of inappropriate domestic spying under rules that were expanded after the terror attacks to give intelligence agencies more latitude. (Washington Post)
Muslims say FBI tactics sow anger and fear
Dec 18: Since the terror attacks of 2001, the F.B.I. and Muslim and Arab-American leaders across the country have worked to build a relationship of trust, sharing information both to fight terrorism and to protect the interests of mosques and communities. But those relations have reached a low point in recent months, many Muslim leaders say. Several high-profile cases in which informers have infiltrated mosques and helped promote plots, they say, have sown a corrosive fear among their people that F.B.I. informers are everywhere, listening. “There is a sense that law enforcement is viewing our communities not as partners but as objects of suspicion,” said Ingrid Mattson, president of the Islamic Society of North America, who represented Muslims at the national prayer service a day after President Obama’s inauguration. “A lot of people are really, really alarmed about this.”
There is little doubt that a spate of recent cases — from the alleged bomb plot by a former Manhattan coffee vendor, Najibullah Zazi, to the shootings at Fort Hood, in Texas — has heightened Americans’ concerns about homegrown terrorism. Muslim leaders have promised to redouble efforts to combat extremism in their ranks. Yet they also worry about the fallout for the vast numbers of the innocent. Some Muslims, Ms. Mattson said, have canceled trips abroad to avoid arousing suspicion. People are wary of whom they speak to. Community groups say it is harder to find volunteers. Many Muslim charities are hobbled.
The Justice Department has in the last two years loosened some restrictions on agents’ ability to start and conduct terrorism investigations. The new guidelines, which the F.B.I. confirmed in October in response to a suit filed by the civil rights group Muslim Advocates, make it easier to plant informers and allow agents to include ethnicity and religion in the assessment of targets, as long as those are not the only factors considered. After four members of a mosque in Newburgh, N.Y., were charged in May with plotting to bomb two Bronx synagogues, the authorities acknowledged that the investigation had begun with an informer who became a linchpin in the scheme. Congregation members said he had frequented the mosque, offering young men money and gifts.
The specter looming largest among immigrant Arabs and Muslims is fear of deportation. And some say the F.B.I. has used that threat forcefully. Sheik Tarek Saleh, the Bay Ridge cleric who is suing the government, said he welcomed F.B.I. agents at his storefront mosque after 9/11 when they asked about his kinship with Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, a high-ranking Al Qaeda militant and his cousin’s husband. Sheik Saleh, 46, said he repeatedly discussed Mr. Yazid as well as his own former membership in the Muslim Brotherhood, a sometimes-violent political movement he joined as a teenager in Egypt and disavowed years later. But when he refused to travel overseas to spy on Mr. Yazid, he said, agents told him to forget his pending application for permanent residence. In February, immigration officials told Sheik Saleh that the application had been rejected because he failed to fill in a section about ties to political groups. He contends that was a minor oversight. F.B.I. and immigration officials would not discuss his case. Sheik Saleh said that he faced deportation because he resisted F.B.I. pressure. “Your dignity is bigger than the green card,” he said. (New York Times)
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